Five-Man Band
by ElsaTheCow
Summary: A Teen Titans college AU, where instead of focusing on battling villains our heroes are focusing on Battle of the Bands. Eventual BBRae and RobStar, with a side dish of Jinx/Kid Flash. One-sided BBTerra, one-sided Raven/Malchior. A coming-of-age story with lots of college angst, some humor, and lots of feelings.
1. Prologue

Character Reference Sheet (Ch. 1):

Dick Grayson - Robin  
Bruce Wayne - Batman

A/N: Hi everyone! This is going to be a LONG FIC, but I'm starting with the prologue. I have about 2.5 other chapters done so far, and I've got a ways to go. Please let me know what you think!

Also, I know that many of you probably know who Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne are, but like... just in case, they're on that list. Character names get more complicated later on, so I've got a list for each chapter.

* * *

It wasn't that Dick Grayson didn't like to have fun. It was just that for him, any kind fun wasn't necessary—or even relevant—unless a person had done exactly what they had set out to do. And, of course, it wasn't his fault that success and winning (especially winning) were important to him. Right. Because winning wasn't everything—it was just the only thing that mattered. And don't you dare say he's wrong, because deep down we all want to win at something. Dick had always known this better than anyone.

Current Example? Well, Dick wanted to win the 6th Annual Battle of the Bands at Delaney College. Sure, it sounded like a small goal. The problem was, Dick didn't have a band. Well, not yet.

Dick had always loved music. He grew up with violin and the infamous Suzuki method booklets. From the age of 4, Dick was coached by the top violinists in the state—not to mention encouraged by John Grayson, his father, who was a renowned concert violinist. Dick's dad was his role model for a long time. Dick's mom, Mary Grayson, was also a famous musician. Her cello skills were famous throughout New York City, where Dick grew up. Dick played his first concert with his parents at age 7. But that was a long, long time ago. And his birth parents were gone; the accident had made sure of that.

Shortly after the accident, Dick ended up being adopted by Bruce Wayne, a famous singer-songwriter who had known John and Mary's classical work and admired them greatly. What was Bruce Wayne like? Think… Ed Sheeran, but older and more brooding.

When Dick found it hard to look at his violin again, even a year later, Bruce taught his adoptive son how to play the guitar. So, as many do, Dick started with acoustic guitar and worked his way to electric guitar by the time he was 13 years old. And as he played song cover after song cover, Dick realized that _this _was his calling: the guitar. He lived for the riffs and the solos and the collaborative creativity that was a rock band. When it came to playing guitar, he loved every minute of it. Sure, he couldn't sing to save his life, but he _could _shred on the guitar like nobody's business. And as Dick grew older, he knew that electric guitar was truly his calling; music was his calling, just like it was for his birth parents and his father.

If you were to ask Dick Grayson what his goal for his music would be, he'd say it was to play for thousands of fans, all of them screaming his name. Glittering, cheaply-glued signs would be held up high in the air. They'd say things like "Dick Grayson ROCKS!" or "Marry me, Dick!" Also, at least one fan would be so inspired by his incredible performance that they'd call him their savior.

Above all? Dick wanted to be a legend. He wanted to be someone's hero.

And he would to anyone that questioned his dream that he wasn't just another dumb kid with an impossible mission. He really believed that he could change the music world someday. He'd swear it.

He just needed a damn band first.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here, aren't we? We ought to start at the beginning of the story, at the beginning of Dick's freshman year of college.

Welcome to Juniper, Pennsylvania.


	2. And they were ROOMMATES

Character Reference Sheet (Ch. 1):

Richard "Dick" Grayson - Robin  
Kole Weathers - Kole  
John "Gnarrk" Gnarrk - Gnarrk (slightly obvious JUST GO WITH IT)  
Raven Roth - Raven (also obvious maybe but like JUST GO WITH IT again)

* * *

Dick sighed in relief as he plopped his final suitcase onto the floor of his dorm room. The first day of orientation was tomorrow, and Dick was moving himself in (Dad was busy performing at home in New York City). He'd driven from New York to Pennsylvania himself, actually, and he was seriously proud that he'd managed to pack everything he'd need into one van—the very same van he'd received as a high school graduation present.

And... wow, high school graduation really did seem so far away, now that Dick was in the middle of the small town of Juniper and getting ready to embark on the next chapter of his life.

"H'lo?" A big—like, scary big—guy that most certainly did NOT look young enough to be a freshman came fumbling into Dick's dorm room, carrying a huge-ass suitcase. Dick looked up from his phone—he was texting his dad to tell him he'd arrived safely—to see what appeared to be his new roommate.

Dick pushed his phone into his skinny jean pocket and held out his hand. "Richard Grayson. Call me Dick. Nice to meet you… John Gnarrk, right? Glad to meet you, John."

The big guy nodded. "Just go by Gnarrk. Nice t' meet you." He looked cautiously at Dick's hand before fist bumping Dick's open palm, seeming satisfied. Dick forced a smile before turning back to typing on his phone.

Gnarrk looked curiously at Rick's furious typing. "That an iTouch?"

Dick's eyebrows shot up. "It's my phone. An iPhone."

Gnarrk's eyes went comically wide. "YOU have an iPhone? No way! I thought those things were, ya know, for royalty!"

Dick frowned. Gnarrk didn't have a Facebook or a cell phone number, so he'd never messaged the guy before. He'd assumed strict parents, but… "I'm not royalty, so I'm gonna go with a no on that one. Where did you get that idea from?"

"Ma and Pa, a'course. We don't really do techno stuff in my area." Gnarrk shrugged, as if this closed the case, when in reality it just was opening up a whole new can of worms. But Dick didn't want to press on; the last thing he needed was to make his roommate uncomfortable and ruin a perfectly good first day. Well, the first hour of the first day, anyway.

A knock on the door startled Dick out of his train of thought. "Hey, Gnarrk? You in there?" A youthful-looking girl with big blue eyes walked casually into their room. Co-ed dorms were going to be interesting, to say the least.

"Oh! You must be Gnarrk's roommmate!" The girl stuck out her hand. Finally, a normal person! Dick shook her hand. "I'm Kole, Gnarrk's girlfriend." Dick's eyebrows shot right back up again. Gnarrk had struck him as incredibly sheltered-how had he managed to find a girlfriend?

"Oh, cool. How long have you guys been together?" Dick asked. He was actually really, really curious.

Kole smiled brightly. "We've been best friends since we were 2 years old, and we've been dating since we were 13. My parents have finally stopped begging Gnarrk to propose, because they've realized that he's not going anywhere. Isn't that right, Gnarrk?" Gnarrk nodded gruffly, but he was blushing a little.

"After Gnarrk got a scholarship to play football here, I just knew I had to follow him. Gnarrk is undecided for his major, but I'm studying chemistry-or, well, I will be." She giggled. "What about you?" There was an enthusiasm and innocence to Kole that Dick found charming. She also seemed more personable than Gnarrk. Or Dick, for that matter.

"I'm a music major. Guitar concentration."

"That's cool!" Kole answered, as she twirled the ring on her finger. Dick hadn't noticed the sparkling ring on her finger until now, one with a light-blue crystal on it. Truthfully, now he couldn't help but stare. Didn't Kole just say they _weren't _engaged?

"Gnarrk gave me this promise ring right before we left for school." Kole's smile was practically bursting off of her face. "He's not much for sappy words, but sappy actions? That he'll do." She looked over at Gnarrk, who was "busy" unpacking his clothing from the suitcase. She walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the top of his head.

Dick glanced at his watch. He felt like he was… intruding, or something, even though this was _his _room. At least, it partially was. "Alright, well, I guess I'm gonna head to the dining hall. I'll see you guys later, then."

"Oh, great! I'm starving." Kole laced her slender fingers in Gnarrk's large hand. "Why don't we all go together?" Gnarrk shrugged.

Dick nodded. Better that than looking like a friendless loser on his first day on campus. "Sure."

* * *

The dining hall was packed with students by noon, and the semester hadn't even officially started. In fact, freshman-year orientation hadn't even started yet. Nevertheless, Dick, Gnarrk, and Kole had some trouble finding a table among the crowd of first-year students, all of whom must have thought 12PM was the _perfect _time to eat.

Luckily, Dick noticed a mostly-empty table in the back of the dining hall. "Hey, guys, how about here?" He motioned with his head, as his hands were currently clasping his food tray. "Looks mostly empty."

Kole cocked her head. "Oh, yeah. That's actually… where my roommate is sitting. I'm not sure Raven wants company, though."

There was only one girl at the table in the dimly-lit back area of the dining hall. She had short, jet-black hair with a purple streak on one side of her head. Her lunch was mostly untouched as she sat reading a book at the table. Dick could also see the glint of a ruby-red gem on her left nostril.

Dick nodded. "So, are we sitting with her or not?" She _did _look like she wanted to be left alone, and Dick knew from personal experience that everyone needed a little personal space from time to time.

Raven looked up from her book to drink whatever beverage was in her mug. Kole took this as an opportunity to wave at her roommate. "Hey, Raven!" Raven rolled her eyes and gave a little wave back. Dick could've sworn he saw a _hint _of a smile playing at Raven's lips.

Gnarrk looked pointedly at Raven. He whispered something into Kole's ear, and she shook her head. "No, Gnarrk, I don't think she practices Wicca. Don't worry!" Kole turned to Dick and shrugged. "We should probably sit somewhere else, don't you think?" she offered.

Dick looked back at Raven's otherwise empty table one last time before he walked away, Kole and Gnarrk right behind him.

* * *

A/N: So Raven probably doesn't practice Wicca... but like let's be real she definitely got into Tarot cards at some point.


	3. The Fresh Meat Takes the Bait

Character Reference:

Richard "Dick" Grayson - Robin  
Kole Weathers - Kole  
John "Gnarrk" Gnarrk - Gnarrk (slightly obvious JUST GO WITH IT)  
Raven Roth - Raven (also obvious maybe but like JUST GO WITH IT again)  
Jinevra "Jinny" Hexton - Jinx  
Andy Long - Aqualad

* * *

Ah, the Fall Activities Fair: what a time to be alive!

It was the last day of freshman orientation, and the Activities Fair was in full swing by the mid-afternoon. Gnarrk and Kole were currently hanging out by themselves, as couples tend to do. Well, that was definitely fine by Dick. Yes, he preferred to explore the opportunities that Delaney College had to offer by himself. He didn't need to rely on Gnarrk, Kole, or anyone else to hand-hold him through it. That would be misguided, truly misguided.

Dick knew that the only person he could count on to get ahead was himself.

As he wandered through the fair, he pushed past throngs of students passing by each of the fold-up tables throughout the college's courtyard. The tacky, homemade poster-board signs looked kind of pathetic, and Dick really, really hoped the lack of artistic ability wasn't a reflection of the various clubs' actual appeal.

However, there was one poster that stood out from the rest. Not because of its looks, because it wasn't any more appealing than the dozens of other excessively-taped collages. On this poster in particular, there were pictures hanging up of different rock bands playing in what appeared to be one of the school's auditoriums. "Battle of the Bands" was written in blue and black, the school's colors. Dick couldn't help but stare.

"Hey, you!" Dick looked up and turned to the front of the table he'd been staring at, where two students were sitting. He looked at the two upperclassmen sitting on lawn chairs quizzically. The guy was on his phone, swiping and typing with expert speed. The upperclassman was wearing a black and blue cheerleading uniform, with her hot-pink hair tied in two pigtails that cascaded down to her shoulders. Her demeanor, though, was far from cheerful.

"We're representing the winners of last year's Battle of the Bands," she stated with a sigh, probably because she was required to give a little ditty about the club and would rather NOT be talking to freshmen. She gave Dick a once-over, bottom to top, and smirked. "So, if you were looking for the Hair Gel Fetish Club, you're out of luck."

Dick winced. His spiked hair was a staple of his charm. At least, he had thought so, until he was forced to endure this girl's insult. Did he really look so… gelled? Not that he cared about what other people thought of him. Sure, everyone does a little, that he knew. But just a little.

"Hey! I'm Andy Long," the other student said as he looked up from his phone, plastering on a smile that looked so charming you couldn't be 100% sure it was sincere. "My band took second last year. Don't worry about _Jinevra_—she just likes to give the freshmen a hard time."

"Use my—use that name _one more time _and you'd better sleep with one eye open," the girl fired back with a tone laced with absolutely no irony. She looked over to Dick. "My name is Jinny. Don't listen to this asshole."

Andy turned away from Dick and faced his table-mate. "Okay... _Jinevra_."

"Shut up or I'll ship you back to _wherever you're from_."

"Okay, that's racist. You want me to tell everyone you're a racist, Jinny?"

Jinny squinted her eyes in faux-confusion. "What was that? Sorry, I don't speak loser."

"So!" Dick interrupted, clearing his throat. The two stopped butting heads to look back at the freshman. "I'm just wondering… Can I sign up as a solo performer?"

They looked at each other, Andy biting back a chuckle and Jinny full-on snickering. That wasn't a good sign.

"You know," Jinny started, her voice dripping with annoyance, "this isn't some high school talent show. Battle of the Bands is for _bands_. With actual talent. We don't even allow sign-ups for the event—you have to audition, as a _band_, to be considered."

Jinny narrowed her eyes at Dick and crossed her arms. "If you're _really_ interested in getting noticed"—it was like she was reading his mind, which was kind of creepy—"then you can audition. You need a minimum of four members for us to consider you as a band, five members if you're all freshmen."

"If you want more info on how to audition, just put your name down here," Andy jumped in, sliding an open notebook forward. The crumpled notebook page was blank, and Dick had to wonder if it was because he was the first one who actually cared or simply the first one who was willing to go through the effort to get a band together. Or, maybe he was just the first freshman that the two upperclassmen hadn't scared away. "Auditions are usually in October. Judges are always professors, since Jinny and I could potentially be biased towards our own bands." He shrugged. "Thing is, our bands are good enough that we wouldn't need to rig the competition." Jinny gave him a pointed look. "Not that we would!"

Dick finished signing his name and passed the notebook back to the tablemates. Andy glanced down at his neatly-written name. "Dick Grayson. Cool. Hopefully we'll see you at auditions!"

Jinny crossed her arms. "Just make sure you're actually good. I've been so bored with all the easy competition." Honestly, Dick couldn't tell if she was joking or not. Either way, he nodded curtly, like he understood exactly what she meant.

He gave a small wave before walking away, back into the swarm of freshmen in the gymnasium. He wasn't not sure if he had looked as awkward as he felt, but he sincerely hoped he gave off a cool vibe. Cool-ish, at the very least. God, it felt so weird to be an underclassman again. Dick hated feeling inferior-but it seemed like he had better get used to it.

* * *

Dick spent about forty minutes messing around on Microsoft Word to make himself an audition flyer before he realized that holding auditions for a band that he wasn't sure he even wanted was a really stupid idea.

"No solo performers? Are you kidding me?" he groaned aloud to his empty dorm room. Gnarrk was at football practice, so he was alone on a Saturday night. Which was fine, really. Dick had never been big on going to parties. There was never going to be room on his to-do list for getting drunk and dancing like an idiot. Bad idea.

He slammed his laptop closed in frustration, and immediately heard a _crack_. "Please don't be broken, please don't be broken," Dick murmured, as he slowly lifted up the laptop screen.

The beautiful HD screen was now cracked in a diagonal streak straight through the middle. Sighing, Dick closed his laptop back up again (much more carefully) and made a mental note to visit the IT department on Monday, when classes started. He could survive one day with a cracked screen.

At the same time, Dick had clearly underestimated how stressed out the flyer-creation had been making him. Just by reflecting on his series of poor choices—including but not limited to slamming his computer shut and deciding to make a flyer in the first place—Dick felt himself getting a headache. Maybe, just maybe, he needed to take the edge off. You know, just a little. Maybe a party _wasn't _such a bad idea.

After a quick search through his contacts, Dick decided that he didn't like any of the people he'd met so far enough to actually hang out with them outside of their upcoming classes together. The good news was, he knew that the school's main lounge was open until 3am on Saturday nights. He could, at the very least, step outside his stuffy, unairconditioned dorm room for a couple hours. The fact that there were probably a lot of parties tonight also meant that very few people would be in the lounge—which was pretty damn perfect. Dick grabbed his phone, earbuds, and notebook, and he started walking towards the lounge in the Union building.

As Dick walked through the narrow hallway of The Tower (which was the nickname for Tyson Towerson Hall, one of the two all-freshmen dorms), he heard someone whispering and coughing. Although, as he walked further and further down the hallway, it sounded more like… crying. Whisper-crying. Homesickness, probably, Dick figured, but the sounds lessened as he got closer to the stairs. Could it have been Kole crying? Come to think of it, the crying was at its loudest right outside of his door, which was adjacent to the beginning of the girls' wing. Even though Kole hadn't seemed homesick, per se, Dick's interest in the matter was now piqued.

And as usual, Dick's curiosity got the best of him. On an impulse, he walked backwards towards the girls' section within the second floor of The Tower.

Sure enough, the whisper-crying got louder and louder, until it stopped. Like, completely. But he knocked on Kole's door anyway. It didn't hurt to check on her, right? They were kind of friends…

However, there was no answer from Kole. The door was locked, but Dick could hear a bit of sniffling. She was definitely in there. "Kole?" he called out softly, "It's Dick. Dick Grayson?" No answer, again. "Um. Do you want me to get Gnarrk or something?" Dick had never been good with feelings. Especially those of girls.

Dick decided to count down from ten in his head. After ten seconds, he would text Gnarrk and call it a night for trying to help Kole.

10… 9… 8…

The idea of listening to music and/or watching YouTube alone in the lounge sounded particularly pleasant right about now.

7… 6… 5…

Why was he doing this again? This wasn't _his _job.

4… 3…

If this was actually his job, he'd be way better at it. Hell, he would have been an expert on the extensive theories of girl-crying-in-her-room. But it wasn't his job, so he was allowed to screw up.

2… 1…

"Kole's not here." Dick spun around from his position of staring at the off-white wall to find—

"Raven? Were you just…. um. Are you okay?" The puffiness around Raven's eyes, still glistening with a trace of tears, said otherwise. However, Dick figured asking was the polite thing to do. She had opened the door, right? Maybe she needed help but was afraid to ask.

"Never been better," Raven deadpanned, and Dick smiled through the worry that she was definitely not feeling that way.

Dick shoved his hands into the pockets of his skinny jeans. "Alright. Well. Just wanted to check in—"

"You thought that I was Kole, and I'm not Kole—so you can just go, okay? Just… just go, it's fine. _I'm _fine_._" She looked hesitantly behind her, towards her shared room, almost as if she was looking for a reason to stay locked away. Yet, she didn't close the door on Dick.

"You look about as 'fine' as I feel right now," Dick quipped. "And for the record, I just smashed my graduation gift into my desk after spending almost an hour on something that doesn't even matter."

Raven raised her eyebrows. "I'm guessing your graduation gift wasn't exactly fragile?"

"Not so much," Dick answered with a mournful sigh.

Raven studied Dick carefully. The silence between them felt like an invisible, unwanted houseguest; it was there, it lingered within the tension, and yet neither seemed ready to tell this "houseguest" to leave. It was kind of the equivalent of a staring contest-but instead of staring at each other, they stared at absolutely anything that wasn't the person in front of them.

Raven was clearly uncomfortable. Dick was uncomfortable, too. Actually, Dick was _very _uncomfortable. So, why couldn't he seem to bark out a simple "goodbye"?

Instead, Dick blurted out, "Do you know how to make a convincing flyer?"

Raven quirked an eyebrow. "I'm not much of a graphic designer. Microsoft Word has plenty of pre-made options; you should be fine with those." She crossed her arms. "Please tell me you're not so technologically challenged as you have no idea how to use a template."

Dick winced. "It's not a matter of skill so much as a matter of efficiency. I just need a flyer that looks cool and gets people interested in signing up with me for Battle of the Bands." His goal now sounded a lot more unrealistic since saying it out loud. Dick hung his head and groaned. "I don't even know why I'm doing this. Half the people I've met so far are theater geeks, and the other half-"

"-are disingenuous and self-absorbed," Raven interrupted, and Dick's head shot up.

"Great minds think alike," he responded, a small smile making its way onto his face.

"I suppose." Raven chewed her bottom lip. "I… I play bass guitar. If you really need someone for your band, I'd-"

"Yes, actually. I mean, I'd like to hear you play first, but I'd love to have you join. You'd bring the band up to a whopping two members." Dick chuckled a little in spite of himself.

Raven cocked her head. "And... who is the other member I'll have to interact with?"

"Me."

Raven nodded slowly, and Dick felt a wave of relief wash over him. "Then I'm in."

* * *

A/N: It's been a year since I last updated no regrets live long and prosper


End file.
